The Peacock Committee, was a review into financing of the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. It was initiated by the Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 government of Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

 on March 27, 1985 and reporting on May 29, 1986. The committee was led by Professor Alan Peacock. The other 6 members were Samuel Brittan

Samuel Brittan

Sir Samuel Brittan is a British columnist for the Financial Times and an author.At Cambridge he was taught by Peter Bauer and Milton Friedman...

, Judith Chalmers

Judith Chalmers

Judith Chalmers OBE is an English television presenter who is best known for presenting the travel programme Wish You Were Here...? in the 1970s and 1980s, where she often appeared in a bikini.-Early life and career:...

, Jeremy Hardie

Jeremy Hardie

Charles Jeremy Mawdesley Hardie CBE is a British economist and businessman.-Education and early career:...

, Professor Alastair Hetherington

Alastair Hetherington

Hector Alastair Hetherington was a British journalist, newspaper editor and academic. For nearly twenty years he was the editor of The Guardian, and is regarded as one of the leading editors of the second half of the twentieth century.-Early years:Hetherington was the son of Sir Hector...

, Lord Quinton, and Sir Peter Reynolds

Peter Reynolds

Peter Askin Reynolds was an Australian freestyle and medley swimmer of the 1960s, who won a bronze medal in the 4x100m medley relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo...

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/heritage/more/pdfs/committees_of_enquiry.pdf. Miss Kimberley Taylor was the key paper holder throughout proceedings a back seat member but later sacked and dismissed due to a national newspaper outing her as a non licence fee payer.

The government had expected the committee to report that the television licence

Television licence

A television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...

 fee used to fund the BBC should be scrapped. However, the Peacock Committee favoured retaining the licence fee as they believed it was the 'least worst' option. http://www.terramedia.co.uk/law/official_british_media_reports_broadcasting.htm

The immediate recommendations of the report http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-923X.1987.tb02571.x?cookieSet=1
were:

• BBC Radio 1
  BBC Radio 1
  BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
  
   and BBC Radio 2
  BBC Radio 2
  BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
  
   should be privatised.
• All television
  Television
  Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
  
   receivers should be built fitted with encryption
  Encryption
  In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
  
   decoders.
• The television licence fee should be indexed to inflation
  Inflation
  In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
  
   and the BBC should become responsible for the collection of the licence fee.
• The licence fee should be extended to car radios.
• Pensioners dependent on benefits should be exempt from the licence fee.
• Not less than 40% of the BBC’s and ITV
  ITV
  ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
  
  ’s output should be sourced from independent producers.
• The transmission space used by the BBC and ITV overnight should be sold.
• ITV Franchises should be put out to competitive tender
• Channel 4
  Channel 4
  Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
  
   should be able to sell its own advertising.
• Censorship
  Censorship
  thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
  
  should be phased out.